Tag: Illini

Writer’s note: Every Monday, GateHouse Media takes a step back from Illini football and basketball to take a closer look at other, deserving University of Illinois athletic programs and individuals.

Go look up the individual statistics on the Big Ten website for women’s soccer. Do a quick search for the name Jannelle Flaws. Don’t worry, I’ll wait.

(Hint: she is near the top of every category).

In every single offensive category, Flaws is ranked either the best player in the conference, leading in goals (8), assists (5), points (21) and game-winning goals (4).

But Flaws is just a name, one of many contributing to the success of the Illinois soccer team this season.

“Players are already starting to step up,” Illinois head coach Janet Rayfield said Monday. “This isn’t the Jannelle Flaws show this year.”

Nor was it the Flaws show this past weekend when Illinois defeated both Maryland and No. 11 Rutgers, a team which entered the game undefeated and hadn’t allowed a goal in more than 770 minutes.

Against Maryland, senior Nicole Breece scored the game-winning goal in the second period of extra time after 107 minutes of play. Breece also assisted on the goal Katie Murray scored in the eighth minute.

Meanwhile, junior goalkeeper Claire Wheatley earned her seventh and eighth wins of the season, including a diving save against Rutgers that kept the game scoreless before halftime.

“She made two world-class saves that kept us in that game,” Rayfield said.

Illinois, which lost one and tied one in its first two Big Ten games, moved into a three-way for fourth place in the Big Ten standings with Wisconsin and Penn State — which currently ranks the No. 2 team in the country.

The Illini (8-2-1) also hold the fourth-best win percentage in the conference, behind Minnesota, Northwestern and Rutgers.

“I think we might be the deepest this conference has ever been,” Rayfield said. “I think if we bring our best, if we play our best, we can beat anybody in the Big Ten, but if you’re just off of that by a little, anybody can beat anybody in the Big Ten.”

Poulter draws multiple B1G weekly volleyball honors

Illini freshman Jordyn Poulter was picked for both Big Ten Setter of the Week and Big Ten Freshman of the Week on Monday for her role in helping Illinois sweep Maryland and Rutgers on the road to open conference play.

Poulter, who was also tabbed Big Ten Freshman of the Week on Aug. 31, averaged 12.3 assists per set in her Big Ten debut weekend and led the team in each match with hitting percentages of .390 and .433, respectively.

Writer’s note: Every Monday, GateHouse Media takes a step back from Illini football and basketball to take a closer look at other, deserving University of Illinois athletic programs and individuals.

Illinois volleyball was dealt its second loss of the season Saturday to another top-10 team, but that doesn’t mean the Illini are looking bad.

Actually, the Illini look their best since entering conference play with an 11-0 record in the 2011 season.

While Illinois fell to No. 9 in Monday national rankings from its previous spot at No. 6, the team posts a 9-2 record with two ranked wins over Colorado and Kentucky — both were ranked No. 21 at the time when they faced Illinois.

In addition to the loss against the Sun Devils — who jumped from No. 10 to No. 7 after the 3-2 win over the Illini — Illinois’ only other loss came at the hands of No. 8 Stanford, which then was ranked the second-best team in the nation.

At this point in the 2014 season, Illinois held the No. 16 spot in the rankings with an 8-3 record, going 1-1 against top-25 teams. Between the 2012 and 2013 seasons, the Illini posted a combined 10-10 record before conference play, just one win more than the 2015 squad currently has.

Prior to dropping the third set, 21-25, against UNLV, Illinois was also on a streak of five consecutive match sweeps, which included the wins over Colorado and Kentucky.

Plenty of adversity still awaits Illinois in the conference slate with seven other Big Ten teams currently ranked in the top 25 and another two receiving votes.

Flaws leads Illini soccer once again

Though Illinois soccer began conference play with a tie and a loss, a major factor continued to shine: Jannelle Flaws.

Illinois scored only a single goal in Sunday’s 3-1 loss to Purdue when Katie Murray knocked one in in the final two minutes of the game on an assist from Flaws.

With that assists, Flaws has now contributed in some way on 12 of the team’s 17 goals scored this season — 12 goals, four assists.

The redshirt senior has scored a school-record 51 career goals, which broke the previous record of 47 goals by Tara Hurless on Aug. 30 when Flaws scored a hat trick to help Illinois defeat Saint Louis, 3-1.

Mike Thorne, Jr., a 6-foot-11 graduate transfer from Charlotte, committed the Illini for the 2015-16 season, according to reports. The news comes three days after the team announced Colbert would transfer.

Thorne averaged 10.1 points and 7.3 rebounds last season for the 49ers and recorded six double-doubles. He chose Illinois over offers from Kentucky and Kansas.

Colbert, a 6-foot-9 sophomore forward, played in 25 games last season for the Illini and averaged 1.7 points and 2.2 rebounds. He also hit three of four 3-pointers on the season.

The addition of Thorne gives the Illini much needed depth in the frontcourt without Colbert or senior center Nnanna Egwu, who played his last season of eligibility last season. Thorne joins sophomore Leron Black and junior Maverick Morgan down low, along with redshirt freshman Michael Finke and transfer Darius Paul.

The Illini also returns senior Tracy Abrams, who missed all of last season with a torn ACL.

Illinois still has one remaining scholarship to give for the 2015-16 season, which was freed up when junior Aaron Cosby announced his departure from the program back in February.